Last year, 11 Hong Kong women from the Tatler community joined forces to fight one of our world’s most pressing issues: single-use plastics. Known collectively as EcoDrive Hong Kong, they've been running outreach and education programmes at Hong Kong schools, private members clubs and local sports teams to reduce their plastic footprint (and that's just the start). In our latest series, get to know these 11 inspirational women who are making Hong Kong a greener place. Up next is Sherry Fung, mother of three and social issues ambassador:
Why and how did you decide to become one of the founders of EcoDrive?
It was a combination of self-guilt and consciousness that drove me to do more than just impose a personal habit change. My tipping point was watching the award-winning movie, "A Plastic Ocean" on a Cathay flight, which gave me that final push to realise the urgency of the situation and the need to educate more people, especially the younger ones on this serious issue of single-use plastic (we call it SUP).
Tell us about your personal background when it comes to environmental issues.
My mother taught me from a young age the importance of reusing what we already have and not to waste. It wasn’t so much to be environmentally friendly but to be responsible for our own actions. That was the beginning of my awareness of how I impact my surroundings. With awareness came consciousness, with consciousness came caring, and with caring came change in my own behaviour.
Why are you passionate about reducing single-use plastics?
There are so many global issues to tackle but the reduction of single-use plastic (SUP) is more pressing for me since it can be taught early. We all have different reasons for wanting to reduce SUP, but I am passionate because the human consumption of plastic and our inability to control and process the plastic waste is killing marine life and more importantly, getting into our food chain.
Most of us are unaware that oceans provide us with 70% of our oxygen and when the ocean is sick, we get sick. We didn’t inherit the world from our ancestors, we borrowed it from our children. I want to leave the world with three extra people who will try their best to conserve our environment.
What is your biggest pet peeve when it comes to plastics usage in HK?
Watching people buy take-out with all the single-use containers, bags, utensils, straws, cups and lids makes me cringe. Similarly, umbrella bags that are only used for an average of about 2-5 mins during rainy season also drives me insane.
Unnecessary over-packaging of products at the supermarket has driven me to shop at the wet market more. On the other hand, this just reminds me of how much work EcoDrive has to do because I truly believe it's not that people don’t care—they simply need to be educated.
